
• . . ' t, ^ 






Ox. 












0^ 



>f; ^ SLAVERY AMONG THE PURITANS. 



LETTER 



TO 



THE REV. MOSES STUART. 



Amiens 



BOSTON: 
CHARLES C. LITTLE AND JAMES BROWN. 



M DCCC L. 









boston: 

thurston, torry, and company, 

Printers, Devonshire Street. 



SLAVERY AMONG THE PURITANS. 



REV. MOSES STUART. 

Sir: 

I OFFER no apology for directing your attention to a 
passage in your Essay on the Constitution, which possibly 
may convey, to those imperfectly acquainted with colonial 
history, a false impression of the sentiments which were en- 
tertained by the Puritanical Fathers of Massachusetts on the 
subject of slavery. As you have with great propriety alluded 
to their views respecting it, I feel assured that you will pardon 
me for suggesting any oversight, that, in the hurry of com- 
position, may have escaped your notice ; knowing full well, 
that your familiarity with our annals, and your supreme 
regard for truth, will effectually secure you against mistakes 
arising from any other source. Nor do I admit the necessity 
of excusing myself to the descendants of those venerable 
men, should the costume in which they are here presented 
be different in some respects from what imagination has 
sometimes cast about them. 

They require no adventitious aid. Never a set of men 
more ready than they to stand the gaze of truth, and with 
good reason ; none had less to fear from her scrutiny. 



The passage in my mind occurs on page 109 : 

" I first address the northerners, and specially my fellow-citizens 
of Massachusetts. In looking back on the history of slavery in our 
country, where do we find it to have originated ? From Great 
Britain ; and from her alone. All the colonies fought pitched battles 
against it; and the king and parliament of Great Britain defeated 
them. North and South were united on this question ; united before 
the Declaration of Independence, and united for a long time after it. 
I can have room to produce but one specimen of protest ; and this is 
from the pen of Mr. Jefferson, who originally inserted it in our Decla- 
ration of Independence which he drew up. It was omitted afterwards 
merely from delicacy of feeling toward some gentlemen of the South, 
(South Carolina and Georgia,) and also, as Mr. Jefferson intimates, 
(3 Madison Papers,) from the same feeling toward some of the dele- 
gates from the North, who were engaged in the Guinea trade. Here 
it is as it came from the hand of Mr. Jefferson. He is speaking of 
the king of England : ' He has waged cruel war against human 
nature itself, violating its most sacred rights of life and liberty in the 
persons of a distant people, who never offended him ; capturing and 
carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere, or to incur a miser- 
able death in the transportation thither. This piratical warfare, the 
opprobrium of infidel powers, is the warfare of a Christian king 
of Great Britain. Determined to keep an open market where men 
should be bought and sold, he has prostituted his negative for sup- 
pressing every legislative attempt to prohibit or control this execrable 
commerce.' " 

It will readily be seen that this bolt of Mr. Jefferson was 
launched exclusively against the slave trade, and not against 
domestic slavery as it then existed, or ever had existed in 
the colonies. But, on a hasty perusal of your remarks, there 
is danger lest an impression be made, that the pitched battles 
to which you refer were fought by the colonies against the 
admission of slavery among themselves ; that it was at length 
forcibly thrust upon them " from Great Britain and from her 
alone ; " that these efforts for its exclusion would have been 
crowned with success but for the overwhelming power of the 



King and Parliament ; in short^^hat slavery owed its intro- /> 
duction into Massachusetts Bay, and its long continuance 
there, to the irresistible force of the mother country, in direct 
opposition to the moral sense and professed inclinations of 
the people. 

I am perfectly aware that nothing was further from your 
intention than the inculcation of such a belief; but as that, 
or something analogous to it, is likely enough, in the present 
excitement, to be embraced by some who may chance to 
read without due reflection, I have attempted to ascertain and 
to express as well as I could in so brief a space, what the views 
and feelings, on the subject of slavery in Massachusetts, were 
from the beginning of her colonial existence, until Avithin a 
very short time previous to the Revolution. 

Although my remarks will be confined mainly to the in- 
habitants of the Bay, yet as the early settlers of Plymouth, 
Connecticut, and New Haven were imbued with the same 
religious sentiments ; and as a close political alliance, com- 
mencing with the earliest times, subsisted without intterrup- 
tion a long while among them, creating the necessity of 
constant intercourse — they will apply to all those colonies ; 
and with but slight modification, to all the colonies of New 
England. 

To understand the position which the colonists occupied 
in relation to slavery, it will be necessary to call to mind 
their early training ; and the notions respecting personal 
freedom which were prevalent in their day. Democracy of 
the most rampant kind had been taught in England long 
before that period. Shakspeare has handed down a speci- 
men of it in his Jack Cade ; but it had long been suppressed, 
and in no sense can it be said, that democratic sentiments 
prevailed in the age of Elizabeth. Now let us for a moment 
contemplate Governor Winthrop. He was a gentleman of 
education and refinement ; glowing with the loftiest enthu- 
siasm to advance the cause of the Redeemer, and intent upon 



rescuing his persecuted brethren from what he verily believed 
to be the merciless grasp of a most corrupt and intolerent 
hierarchy. He was born in 1587, in the reign of Elizabeth, 
At that time there were in England white men, Englishmen, 
Christians, who were, and during their whole existence had 
been, in a condition far enough removed from a state of 
freedom, — men not reduced to that abject condition for 
crime committed either by themselves or their ancestors, — 
but occupying it simply because they were born to it. They 
were called villeins. I beg leave to introduce a short de- 
scription of them from Rees's Cyclopaedia : 

'^' " Villain or villein, villanus, in our ancient customs the same 
with bondman ; called also, in Domesday book, servus, slave. 

" A villain is one who holds lands in villenage, or on condition of 
rendering base services to his lord. 

" Under the Saxon government, there was, as Sir William Temple 
speaks, a sort of people in condition of downright servitude, employed 
in the most servile works, and belonging, they and their children and 
effects, to the lord of the soil, like the rest of the cattle and stock 
upon it. These seem to have been those who held what was called 
folk land, from which they were removable at the lord's pleasure. 
On the arrival of the Normans here, it seems not improbable, that 
they, who were strangers to any other than the foedal state, might 
give some sparks of enfranchisement to such wretched persons as fell 
to their share, by admitting them, as well as others, to the oath of 
fealty, which conferred a right of protection, and raised the tenant to a 
kind of state superior to downright slavery, but inferior to every other 
condition. This they called villenage, and the tenants villains, either 
from the word viiis, or else, as Sir Edward Coke tells us, a villa, 
because they lived chiefly in villages, and were employed in rustic 
work of the most sordid kind ; hence they were also denominated 
pagences and rustici. These villains belonging principally to lords 
of manors, were either villains regardant, by the civilians called 
glebce addicti or ascriptii, that is, annexed to the manor or land, or 
else they were in gross or at large, that is, annexed to the person of 
the lord, and transferable from one to another. They could not leave 



the lord without his permission ; but if they ran away, or were pur- 
loined from him, might be claimed and recovered by action, like 
beasts or other chattels. They held, indeed, small portions of land 
by way of sustaining themselves and families, but it was at the mere 
will of the lord, who might dispossess them whenever he pleased ; and 
it was upon villain services, that is, to carry out dung, to hedge, and 
ditch the lord's demesnes, and any other, the meanest offices ; and 
their services were not only base, but uncertain, both as to time and 
quantity. A villain could acquire rto property either in lands or 
goods ; but if he purchased either, the lord might enter upon them, 
and oust the villain and seize them to his own use, unless he con- 
trived to dispose of them again before the lord had seized them ; for 
the lord had then lost his opportunity. In'many places, also, a fine 
was payable to the lord, if the villain presumed to marry his daughter 
to any one without leave from the lord ; and by the common law, the 
lord might bring an action against the husband for thus purloining his 
property ; for the children of villains were in the same state of bond- 
age with their parents, whence they were called, in Latin, nativi, 
whence the female appellation of a villain, who was called neife.'''' 

Lord Campbell, in his Life of Chief Justice Dyer, says : 

" It is not generally known, that, down to the reign of Elizabeth, 
tliere were in England both ' villeins in gross,' or slaves that might 
be sold separately, like chattels, and ' villeins regardant,' or slaves 
attached to particular land, with which they were transferred along 
with the trees growing upon it." 

During the entire reign of Elizabeth it might have been as 
much out of place to preach abolition in England as it is 
now in Mississippi. No one doubted the rightfulness of vil- 
lanage, and from viUanage to slavery, and thence to the slave 
trade the transition was easy. Bancroft says : 

" The odious distinction of having first interested England in the 
slave trade belongs to Sir John Hawkins. He fraudulently trans- 
ported a large cargo of Africans to Hispaniola ; rich returns of sugar, 
ginger, and pearls, attracted the notice of Queen Elizabeth ; and 
when a new expedition was prepared, she was induced not only to 



protect, but to share in the traffic. In the accounts which Hawkins 
himself gives of one of his expeditions, he relates that he set fire to 
a city, of which the huts were covered with dry palm leaves, and out 
of eight thousand inhabitants, succeeded in seizing two hundred and 
fifty. The deliberate and self-approving frankness with which this 
act of atrocity is related, and the lustre which the fame of Hawkins 
acquired, display, in the strongest terms, the depravity of public senti- 
ment in the age of Elizabeth." 

« 
In a short biographical notice of Hawkins, the writer, in 

alluding to this transaction, says : 

" It is the apology of our commander, that, far from its being 
regarded as a stain on his humanity, he even bore the badge of these 
exploits on a crest of arms granted him by patent, consisting of a 
demi-moor in his proper color, bound with a cord." 

Hawkins lived till 1595. Nothing more need be said to 
show the feeling which prevailed at this period in England 
among the masses in respect to slavery or the slave trade. 

" Villeinage," says Lord Campbell again, " is supposed to have 
finally disappeared in the reign of James I. ; but there is great diffi- 
culty' in saying when it ceased to be lawful, for there has been no 
statute to abolish it." 

James ascended the throne in 1603, and died in 1625. 
Hume places the extinction of villanage a little earlier, but 
on this point, Lord Campbell is probably the better authority. 

It was in the midst of such sentiments, and surrounded by 
such influences, that the early exiles of Massachusetts were 
educated. Villanage had probably been extinguished in 
England before their departure ; but this is not absolutely 
certain. The measures by which this great revolution in 
society was accomplished, have never been satisfactorily 
explained. By some it is imputed to the benign spirit of 
Christianity, silently operating in its legitimate sphere ; 
others have ascribed it to the spread of civilization, and the 
advance of the arts. Even the time of disappearance is 



a matter of debate. All this shows that the connection 
between lord and villain was not in that age productive of 
excitement. Among the mass of documents which the con- 
troversies that raged so furiously between the reign of Eliza- 
beth and the commonwealth, brought out, some evidence 
would exist that would conclusively fix the period of its 
overthrow, if the least interest had been publicly felt on the 
subject. 

Villains were held almost exclusively by persons of rank 
and wealth. It was this class which had the control of 
legislation. If the religious sentiment had made such pro- 
gress among them as to eradicate selfishness to a degree that 
would induce them, from conscientious scruples, to manumit 
their bondmen, it is surpassingly strange that it should 
suddenly stop there. When men, from motives purely re- 
ligious, had gone so far as to break the fetters from the limbs 
of their slaves, it is perfectly incomprehensible, that they 
should not have seen the justice of removing the still more 
galling restraints which they had themselves imposed on the 
consciences of their fellow-christians. Whether they did it, 
let the sons of the Puritans who glory in the appellation, 
give the response. Their very presence here solves the in- 
quiry. 

All the causes that have been named doubtless conspired 
to produce the result, which we now behold. A higher ap- 
preciation of Christianity ; progress in the arts ; improvements 
in agriculture ; the advancement in civilization ; all these 
elements and many more were at work harmoniously, but 
silently and imperceptibly, to develope a state of society in 
which villanage should no longer bear a part. After a while 
it was perceived on all sides that the institution was not in 
accordance with other things. Men did not arrive at this 
conclusion by any process of reasoning, but it obtruded itself 
upon them. They saw and felt it. Instead of operating 
with ease as aforetime, the institution was found to work 
2 



lu 



cumbrously ; it then became unnecessary ; and finally mis- 
chievous. Marching before these new elements, in obedience 
to an irresistible impulse, the parties instinctively abandoned 
such things as they no longer had occasion for ; lords dropped 
their villains when they became an incumbrance, some sooner, 
some later, as the rising tide overtook them. Who it was that 
held on to the last we have no means of knowing. The time 
when the final separation took place cannot be fixed within 
twenty years ; in fact, the reign in which it happened is not 
agreed on. But who will be at a loss hereafter to know why 
and when slavery ceased in Massachusetts ? Who will inquire 
in vain when the slave trade was abolished by the British par- 
liament, or when emancipation was proclaimed in the West 
Indies ? These dates are fixed beyond the possibility of 
doubt, because, in an age of no greater religious or mental 
excitement than existed in the time of which we have been 
speaking, some men had come to the conclusion that slavery 
was wrong, and ought to be suppressed. Had the same 
notions prevailed respecting villanage, the circumstances at- 
tending its downfall would have been equally notorious. 

But let us render justice to the early planters of Massachu- 
setts. Their humanity is not to be degraded to a level of 
Queen Elizabeth or Sir John Hawkins. Their legislation, as 
soon as they could act, displayed a benignity on the subject 
of slavery as much in advance of any thing then existing 
at common law, or in the rolls of parliament, as the laws 
of Moses, in that respect, were superior to the polity of any 
nation in his time. 

Governor Winthrop with his associates, having in possession 
the colonial charter, arrived at Boston in 1630. In 1641 the 
people adopted a code of laws made by themselves for their 
own special guidance and direction. It was drawn up by 
some of their most pious and practical men, after a residence 
of ten years in their adopted country, and with the light of 
all the experience which they had acquired in the art of sell- 



11 

government. Among the " Liberties," and under the head 
of " Liberties OF Forreiners and Strangers" is the fol- 
lowing article : 

" There shall never be any bond slavarie villinage or captivitie 
amongst us unless it be lawful! Captives taken in just warres, and 
such strangers as willingly selle themselves or are sold to us. And 
these shall have all the liberties and Christian usages which the law 
of God established in Israeli concerning such persons doeth morally 
require. This exempts none from servitude who shall be Judged 
thereto by Authoritie." 

And under the head of " Capitall Laws" is this further 
article : 

" If any man stealcth a man or mankind he shall surely be put to 
death." 

This is all too plain to admit of elucidation. They made 
a distinction between buying men and stealing men, and in 
their estimation, an important distinction it was, as we shall 
have occasion to see. They legalized the traffic in slaves, 
but prohibited kidnapping. Neither were these laws intended 
to remain a dead letter, A transaction soon came up which 
demanded their exercise, and the manner in which the law 
was enforced, shows that the makers were in earnest. It is 
related by Gov. Winthrop, and as it is valuable in exhibiting 
the real state of affairs at that time, about which notions 
somewhat crude now prevail, it will be inserted verbatim. 
The occurrence took place in 1645. 

" In beginning of the winter," says the governor, " a Portugal ship 
lying at Nantascot, (now called Hull) the seamen stole diverse goats 
off the Islands there. Complaint thereof being made to the governor 
and council, they gave warrant to one Mr. Smith, who then lay with 
his ship in the same place, to require the Portugal to give satisfaction, 
or else to bring his ship up to Boston. Mr. Smith (who was a mem- 
ber of the church of Boston) sent one Thomas Keyser, his mate, with 
his long boat well manned, to require satisfaction, who coming to the 
Portugal did not reason the case with him, nor give him any time to 



12 



consider, but presently boarded him, and took possession, and brought 
her up, and his men fell to rifling the ship as if she had been a prize. 
The Portugal being brought to the magistrates, and the theft proved, 
he was ordered to make double restitution (as our manner is) and the 
seamen were made to restore what they had taken out of the ship. 
So the Portugal departed well satisfied. 

" The said Mr. James Smith with his mate Keyser were bound to 
Guinea to trade for negroes. But when they arrived there, they met 
with some Londoners, with whom they consorted, and the Londoners 
having been formerly injured by the natives (or at least pretending 
the same) they invited them aboard one of their ships upon the Lord's 
day, and such as came they kept prisoners, then they landed men and 
a murderer,* and assaulted one of their towns, and killed many of the 
people, but the country coming down, they were forced to retire with- 
out any booty, diverse of their men being wounded with the negroe's 
arrows, and one killed. Mr. Smith having taken in wine at Madeiras, 
sailed to Barbadoes to put off his wine. Being engaged there, and his 
wife being there also unprovided of maintenance, and his ship and 
cargo bound over unto the said Keyser, his mate, and others of Boston, 
who set out the ship, Keyser refused to let any of the wines go on 
shore, except he might have security for the proceeds to be returned 
on ship board. So the ship lay a week in the roads, and then Keyser, 
fearing that the master would use some means by other ships which 
rode there, to deprive him of the cargo, told him plainly, that if he 
would not come on board, and return to Boston (which was the last 
port they were bound to) he would carry away the ship and leave him 
behind, which accordingly he did ; and arriving at Boston about mid- 
summer, he repaired to the magistrates, and told them how he was 
come away; and tendered the cargo to them, who finding that it was 
engaged to himself and others, and that there would be great loss in 
the wines if they were not presently disposed, delivered them to the 
merchants and himself, taking bond of him to respond to Mr. Smith, 
&;c. A short time after, Mr. Smith came, and brought his action 
against Keyser and the other mariners for bringing away his ship, and 
by a jury of seamen and merchants, recovered three or four times the 
value of what he was damnified, and the mate Keyser to lose not only 

* A small piece of ordnance. 



li 



his wages, but he and the rest of the merchants to lose the proceed or 
interest, for then- stock and adventure, which was forty per cent., and 
all the mariners to lose their wages. But diverse of the magistrates 
being unsatisfied with this verdict (perceiving that the jury in their 
displeasure against Keyser, &c., did not only regard Smith's satisfac- 
tion for his damages, but also the punishment of Keyser) the defend- 
ants at the next court brought a review, and then another jury abated 
much of the former damages; whereupon Smith preferred a petition 
to the next General Court. 

" For the matter of the negroes, whereof two were brought home, 
and near one hundred slain by the confession of some of the mariners, 
the magistrates took order to have these two set at liberty, and to be 
sent home ; but for the slaughter committed they were in great doubt 
what to do in it, seeing it was in another county, and the Londoners 
pretended a just revenge. So they called the elders and desired their 
advice." 

These proceedings excited, as they were well calculated 
to, a good deal of commotion. At the next meeting of the 
General Com-t, the following memorial was presented by- 
Richard Saltonstall : — 

" TO THE HONORED GENERAL COURT. 

" The oath I took this yeare att my entrance upon the place of as- 
sistant was to this effect : That I would truly endeavour the advance- 
ment of the gospell and the good of the people of this plantation (to 
the best of my skill,) dispencing justice equally and impartially (ac- 
cording to the laws of God and this land) in all cases wherein I act 
by virtue of my place. I conceive myself called by virtue of my 
place to act (according to the oath) in the case concerning the negers 
taken by Captain Smith and Mr. Keser ; wherein it is apparent that 
Mr. Keser upon a Sabboth day gave chace to certain negers, and 
upon the same day took diverse of them ; and another time killed 
others ; and burned one of their townes. Omitting several misde- 
meinours which accompanied these acts above mentioned, I conceive 
the acts themselves to bee directly contrary to these following laws 
(all which are capitall by the word of God ; and 2 of them by the 
lawes of this jurisdiction.) 



14 



" The act (or acts) of murder (whether by force or fraude) are ex- 
pressly contrary both to the law of God and the law of this country. 

" The act of stealing negers, or taking them by force (whether it be 
considered as theft or robbery) is (as I conceive) expressly contrary 
both to the law of God, and the law of this country. 

" The act of chacing the negers (as aforesayde) upon the Sabboth 
day (being a servile worke and such as cannot be considered under 
any other heade) is expressly capitall by the law of God. 

" These acts and outrages being committed where there was noe 
civill government which might call them to accompt, and the persons 
by whom they were committed being of our jurisdiction, I conceive 
this court to be the ministers of God in this case ; and therefore my 
humble request is, that the several offenders may be imprisoned by 
order of this Court, and brought unto their deserved censure in con- 
venient time ; and this I humbly crave, soe that the sinn they have 
committed may be upon their own heads, and not upon ourselves (as 

otherwise it will.) 

" Yrs. in all christian observance, 

" RICHARD SALTONSTALL." 

It appears that this further proceeding was had m the 
matter. " Upon a petition of Richard Sahonstall, Esq. for 
justice to be done on Captain Smith and Mr. Keyser for their 
injurious dealings with negroes at Guinea, the petition was 
granted, and ordered that Captain Smith and Mr. Keyser be 
laid hold on, and committed to give answer at convenient 
time thereabouts." 

Now, what were the offences for which Smith and Keyser 
were required to give answer thereabouts ? The foregoing 
memorial, which may be considered as a bill of indictment, 
specifies four ; viz., murder ; forcible abduction or kidnap- 
ping ; Sabbath breaking ; and arson. 

Little or no stress is laid upon the last charge, the accusa- 
tion being confined to the first three. Perhaps there was no 
law against arson ; whereas the other acts were violations of 
the colonial laws, as well as contrary to the laws of God. 

The true state of the case is this : Smith, who was a 



15 



member of the church of Boston, his mate, Keyser, and 
diverse Boston merchants fitted out a ship, bound to Guinea, 
to trade for, that is, to buy, negroes. Their object was to 
engage in the slave trade as a regular business transaction. 
They went about it in open daylight, without affecting the 
least concealment. Why should they disguise it ? In sim- 
ply buying heathen, pagan negroes, there was nothing which 
contravened the laws of England ; nor the laws of the colony 
which they had just enacted ; nor was there, according to 
their understanding, any thing contrary to the word of God. 
For aught appears in the history of the times, Captain Smith, 
who must have given satisfactory evidence of his piety, 
might have craved the prayers of the church for a blessing 
on his perilous undertaking. Had he adhered to his original 
durpose, and confined himself to merchandizing, we probably 
never should have heard of his adventure. But when he 
reached the coast, instead of trading for negroes, he was 
tempted to emulate the exploits of Hawkins, who had ac- 
quired, in the same field, both wealth and renown. He 
took what he deemed the shortest and cheapest method 
to obtain a cargo ; supposing, that as he was beyond the 
jurisdiction of the colony, and interested in the enterprise 
with Boston merchants, as much lenity would be extended 
to him in that port as others had received in London. But 
he made a mistake. Actions which, if they did not procure 
Hawkins the honor of knighthood, were no obstruction to his 
high advancement, in Massachusetts were treated as crimes. 
We have this further record : 

" 14, 3d mo., 1645. The court thouglit proper to write to Mr. Wil- 
liams, of Piscataqua, (understanding that the negroes which Captain 
Smyth brought were fraudulently and injuriously taken and brought 
from Guinea by Captain Smyth's confession and the rest of the com- 
pany,) that he forthwith sent the negro which he had of Captain Smyth 
hitlier, that he may be sent home, which this court doth resolve to send 
without delay. And if you have any thing to alledge why you should 



16 



not return him to be disposed of by the Court, it will be expected you 
should forthwith make it appear by yourself or your agent." 

How the affair terminated with Smith and Keyser, I have 
never seen mentioned. 

It does not appear that the transaction subjected Smith to 
any odium, or lessened him in the estimation of his neighbors. 
In his suit against Keyser he came off triumphant, aUhough 
the wines in controversy must have been bought with the 
proceeds accruing from the sale of kidnapped negroes. Be- 
sides compensating him for the loss he sustained by the con- 
duct of Keyser, the jury evidently intended to give him smart 
money ; and when by review the damages were abated, instead 
of hiding his head for shame, he boldly appealed to the next 
General Court, which was the highest tribunal. If there was 
a party arrayed against him, he evidently felt sure of a party 
in his favor. 

But slavery was not a new idea to our ancestors at the 
time of this transaction. Within seven years of their land- 
ing, a war broke out with the Pequods, a numerous and 
powerful tribe of Indians residing within the borders of Con- 
necticut. The colonies were in imminent danger of being 
annihilated, and it was resolved that the most energetic 
measures should be adopted. The men who came to this 
conclusion seldom did things at the halves ; and accordingly 
this once haughty race were utterly exterminated, and their 
country laid desolate. It is related that about seven hundred 
of them miserably perished together in their fort at Mystic. 
Hot pursuit was made after those who were not involved in 
the terrible calamity, and a few captives were taken. Forty- 
eight of them, being women and children, were spared and 
brought to Boston, the men having been put to death. 
These captives were disposed of through the country among 
the inhabitants. Some of them ran away and were taken 
and brought back by the neighboring Indians ; " and those," 
says Winthrop, " we branded on the shoulder." Of another 



17 



lot of prisoners taken in the same war, Winthrop says, "the 
women and children were divided, and some sent to Con- 
necticut, and some to Massachusetts We sent fifteen 

boys and two women to Bermuda by Captain Pierce, but he, 
missing it, carried them to Providence Isle." The purpose 
for which they were sent is clearly enough indicated, perhaps, 
although not specifically mentioned. Trumbull, in his His- 
tory of Connecticut, comes out with it fiat-footed. " The 
people of Massachusetts sent a number of women and chil- 
dren to the West Indies and sold them for slaves." Here is 
a whole community participating in the slave trade ; the 
PEOPLE of Massachusetts, acting by their constituted authori- 
ties in their sovereign capacity. A more emphatic sanction 
of the practice could not be given. 

It may be said in reply, that these were blood-thirsty 
savages, taken in a contest of their own provoking, when the 
conflict was hand to hand for very life ; that harmless, in- 
otfensive negroes would have been treated very differently. 

But facts are opposed to this hypothesis. In 1630, when 
Governor Winthrop arrived in the Bay, he found Mr. Samuel 
Maverick already seated on Noddle's Island. He was a 
squatter, destitute of title. In 1633, to save himself, proba- 
bly, from being forcibly ejected, he purchased his land of the 
colony ; and being already within its limits, became subject 
to its jurisdiction. As early as 1639, he was the owner of 
sundry negro slaves of both sexes. It does not appear when 
or where he procured them, or how long they had been in 
his possession ; but assuredly his course would not have been 
tolerated had it been illegal, or opposed to public sentiment. 
He was not a Puritan, but " strong for the lordly, prelatical 
power." This gave him no hold on the sympathies of those 
about him. Nevertheless, he was not molested. In a com- 
munity where the most stringent laws were enforced with 
the utmost inflexibility against members of their own persua- 
sion, it is not to be presumed that one of a different commu- 
3 



1.8 



nion, and that, too, the most obnoxious, would be treated 
with greater indulgence. 

In 1643, articles of agreement and confederation were 
entered into between the colonies of Massachusetts Bay, 
Plymouth, New Haven, and Connecticut. The eastern 
settlements, and that of Rhode Island, were excluded from 
the compact on account of the laxity of their religious opin- 
ions. They go on to say : 

" It is also by these confederates agreed, that the charge of all just 

wars, whether offensive or defensive, shall, both in men and 

provisions, and other disbursements, be borne by all the parts of this 
confederation in different proportions, according to their different 

abilities ; and that according to the different charge of 

each jurisdiction and plantation, the whole advantage of the war (if 
it please God so to bless their endeavors) whether it be in lands, 
goods, or persons, shall be proportionably divided among the said 
confederates." 

This was not intended to be an idle display of rhetoric, 
but was reduced to practice upon the first occasion. 

In 1676, the conflict known as Philip's "War was brought 
to a close ; and the savages, after a most fierce and sanguina- 
ry contest, were completely defeated. In disposing of the 
prisoners, which was an affair of state, " a great many of the 
chiefs were executed at Boston and Plymouth, and most of 
the rest were sold, and shipped for slaves to Bermudas and 
other parts." The purpose for which the clause touching 
the advantage to be derived from persons, was inserted in 
the foregoing compact, is now apparent. The benefit was 
in this way made available, and was shared by every member 
of the body .politic. 

The Plymouth people, the same year, passed a law that 
no male Indian captive, over fourteen years of age, should 
be allowed to remain in the colony ; all persons who had 
such captives were required to send them out of the colony 
by the first day of December then next ensuing ; and every 



i9 

Indian coming within the purview of the act, who should be 
found within the jurisdiction after that day, was to be seized 
by proper officers and sold for the benefit of the colony : an 
exception, however, was made in favor of five or six Indians 
to whom Captain Church had pledged his word, that if they 
behaved themselves well, they should not be sold into/or- 
raign parts. 

In the same year (1676) Major Waldron, at Cocheco, in 
concert with some Massachusetts forces under Capt. Syll 
and Capt. Hawthorne, succeeded by stratagem in capturing, 
in a time of peace, about two hundred Indians, who had 
taken sides with Philip in the late war. They were sent to 
Boston. " Seven or eight, who were known to have killed 
Englishmen, were condemned and hanged ; the rest were 
sold into slavery in foreign parts." Mather relates the ex- 
ploit, with great satisfaction. These prisoners, having been 
captured by the public forces, must have been sold on public 
account. 

The articles of confederation, before referred to, contain 
another provision, which shows that our ancestors were not 
exempt from the troubles that infest the community at the 
present tirne ; although the remedy was then applied in 
much better temper than is displayed by their descendants. 
It runs thus : 

" It is also agreed that if any servant run away from his master into 
any of these confederate jurisdictions, that in such case, upon certificate 
of one magistrate in the jurisdiction out of which the said servant fled, 
or upon other due proof, the said servant shall be delivered either to 
his master, or any other that pursues and brings such certificate or 
proof." 

Slavery continued to flourish in New England, and negroes 
were introduced. Josselyn, who spent ten years in the 
country, (from 1663 to 1673,) says in relation to the people 
of Boston : •' They have great store of children, and are well 
accommodated with servants ; some of these are English and 



20 



others negroes." On this passage, Dr. Belknap remarks that 
they had negro slaves. 

It is estimated that in 1680 there were in Massachusetts 
from one hundred to one hundred and twenty negro slaves. 

In the same year, there were in Connecticut about thirty- 
seven. 

It is said that but few blacks were at this time imported 
into Rhode Island. 

The colonial charter of Massachusetts was annulled in 
1684. Previous to that time, the political affairs of the colo- 
ny had been administered with as much regard to public 
sentiment as they have been since the declaration of inde- 
pendence. The governor, assistants, and deputies were as 
much chosen by the freemen as the governor, senators, and 
representatives are now. The principal, if not the only 
difference, lay in the fact, that suffrage, instead of being uni- 
versal, was restricted to church members, who alone could 
exercise the right. These were the men who admitted slav- 
ery in the first place, and without whose concurrence it could 
not have survived a single day. They had the power to 
repeal the law by which it was established ; a power they 
would not have been slow to exercise, had they thought its 
tendencies immoral or anti-scriptural. Had the owners proved 
contumacious, they could have been dealt with by a process 
as effective as that employed against Q,uakers, and Antinomi- 
ans, and Anabaptists. Very many years afterwards, and in 
altered circumstances, under the provincial charter, efforts 
were made to that effect, and the royal governors interposed 
their vetos. It is to governors appointed by the crown that 
Mr. Jefferson alludes. His remarks have no application to 
governors who had been chosen by the people. But those 
who had the direction of affairs under the first charter could 
have had no suspicion that slavery was wrong. In the 
gloomy times that immediately preceded the extinction of 
the charter, when their fears had been excited by a horrid 



>^ 



21 



meteor that hung in the air ; while they were yet bemoan- 
ing the effects of a most cruel and bloody Indian war ; when 
an inclement season had blighted the hopes of the husband- 
man, and an arbitrary and venal government in England 
threatened them with the loss of all those privileges which 
they had made such sacrifices to obtain — then they hum- 
bled themselves as they were accustomed to do in seasons of 
adversity, and sought, by a thorough reformation, to pro- 
pitiate the divine favor. They called to mind their manifold 
transgressions and bewailed their short-comings. An enu- 
meration of their offences, which is still on record, would 
occupy more space than we can afford. Among them, and 
standing in a conspicuous position, is ''pride in wearing 
men's hair like women's hair ; " "(iuaker meetings ; " " pro- 
faneness in persons turning their backs upon the public 
worship before the blessing is pronounced ; " "a loose and 
sinful custom of riding from town to town, men and women 
together, under the pretence of going to lectures." These 
and many other things were held up as constituting the 
crying sins of the day; but in the long list of evils that 
was exhibited, so they might be shunned and repented of, 
slavery no where finds a place. 

" It is apparent," says Mr. Coffin in his History of Newbury, " that 
slaves though not numerous in Massachusetts, were, notwithstanding 
the law, introduced without difficulty, and bought and sold without 
scruple by all classes of the people." 

I am not aware of the existence in early times of any law 
against slavery. If there was one, which was violated by all 
classes without scruple, the fact shows pretty clearly the state 
of public sentiment. 

The first voice against slavery appears to have been uttered 
May 26, 1701, when 

" The representatives of Bos!on were desired to promote the encour- 
aging of the bringing of white servants, and to put a period to negroes 
being slaves." 



22 



But by whom this request was made, or on what account, 
or with what success, does not appear. 

There were many prudential and economical considerations 
which might have been urged for suppressing negro slavery. 
We are not by any means bound, in the absence of proof, to 
presume that this slight movement, which was not repeated, 
had its origin in conscientious scruples. 

" The winter here," says Dr. Belknap, " was always unfavorable 
to the African constitution. For this reason white laborers are prefer- 
able to blacks ; and as whites were more numerous, there was not 
much encouragement to the importation of blacks, nor were they ever 
so prolific as the whites." 

In the early settlement of Georgia slavery was excluded. 
The reasons are said to have been partly politic and partly 
humane. This argument among others was used : 

"It is necessary not to permit slaves in such a country, for slaves 
starve the poor laborer. For if a gentleman can have his work done 
by a slave, who is a carpenter or bricklayer, the carpenters and brick- 
layers of the country must starve for want of employment ; and so of 
other trades." 

But had the Boston representatives prevailed, it is far from 
certain that much would have been gained in Massachusetts 
on the score of humanity. What would have prevented the 
same scenes from being repeated here that were enacted in 
Virginia ? 

" Conditional servitude under indentures or covenants," says Ban- 
croft, " had from the first prevailed in Virginia The sup- 
ply of white servants became a regular business ; and a class of men, 
nicknamed spirits, used to delude young persons, servants and idlers 
into embarking for America as a land of spontaneous plenty. White 
servants came to be a usual article of traffic. They were sold in 
England to be transported, and in Virginia, were resold to the highest 
bidder ; like negroes, they were purchased on ship board, as men buy 
horses at a fair." 



23 



This was done in old Virginia, the birth-place of Mr. Jeffer- 
son, where so much anxiety was exhibited, according to his 
representation, to suppress the slave trade. 

Grahame says, "A provincial law enacted in 1712 prohib- 
ited the importation of slaves into Massachusetts." If the 
statement be correct, which I have no means at hand to veri- 
fy, the law was soon repealed, or at any rate disregarded. 
Dr. Belknap, who was an ardent whig of the revolution, 
writing from Boston in 1795, says : 

" By inquiries which I have made of our oldest merchants now 
living, I cannot find that more than three ships a year belonging to this 

port were ever employed in the African trade The slaves 

purchased in Africa were chiefly sold in the West Indies, or in the 
Southern Colonies ; but when these markets were glutted and the 

price low, some of them were brought hither I remember 

one between thirty and forty years ago, which consisted almost wholly 
of children." 

Dr.- Belknap, who was an abolitionist as the term was then 
understood, as well as a whig, says that reflecting persons 
were divided in their opinions on the lawfulness of slavery. 
Yet with all his knowledge of men and things as they existed 
an hundred years ago, and with his extensive and critical 
researches into colonial antiquities, he was able to name but 
one person, who publicly protested against it. That indi- 
vidual was the venerable Samuel Sewall, Chief Justice of 
the Province of Massachusetts Bay, and one of the Judges, 
who occupied the bench during the trial of the Salem witch- 
es ; and with whose concurrence nineteen persons were hanged, 
and one, for refusing to plead, pressed to death. This gentle- 
man, about 1716, published a pamphlet in condemnation of 
slavery ; in which he was doubtless as sincere as he was in 
giving his assent to the aforesaid judgments. Mr. Coffin, the 
indefatigable historian of Newbury, says there was one other 
person who bore public testimony against the practice, Elihu 
Coleman of Nantucket. He concedes, that "excepting these 



24 



two persons, there appears to have been no public advocate 
for the slave in Massachusetts, till a short time prior to the 
revolution." 

With one exception, slavery was universal throughout the 
British Colonies. In the province of Georgia, for a short time 
after its settlement, slavery was prohibited. In Massachusetts 
the social condition of the slave was as low as in any part of 
the country. Judge Sewall says, in his Diary in 1716, " I 
essayed to prevent Negroes and Indians from being rated with 
horses and cattle, and could not succeed." 

Previous to this time their condition had awakened the 
sympathy of another philanthropist. Cotton Mather had at 
his own expense set up a school in Boston, where the negroes 
were taught to read. Some time afterwards, recording in his 
Diary the trials and afflictions to which he was subjected, he 
notices his efforts in behalf of the negroes. His exertions do 
not appear to have been taken so kindly as they were meant. 
Among his " Dark Dispensations," it is related that " many, 
on purpose to affront him, affix his name. Cotton Mather, to 
the young negroes, so that if any mischief is done by them, 
the credit of it comes upon him." The whites did not deem 
it necessary that the blacks should learn to read, and they felt 
no gratitude towards one who attempted to teach them. 

There was no display of public sentiment against slavery 
in Massachusetts until a short time previous to the revolution. 
The Rev. W. B. O. Peabody, in his Life of Cotton Mather, 
says : 

" One of the subjects mentioned in Cotton Mather's Diary is slavery, 
which, even as matter of history, is so completely forgotten in New 
England, that when he speaks of buying slaves, as he does more than 
once, he seems like the inhabitant of another country. He says that 
in 1706 he received a singular blessing. Some gentlemen of his 
society, having heard, accidentally, that he was in want of a good 
servant, had the generosity to purchase for him ' a very likely slave,' 
at an expense of forty or fifty pounds. He describes him as a negro 



25 



of promising aspect and temper, and says that such a present was ' a 
mighty mighty smile of Heaven upon his family.' " 

Dr. Colman, in a funeral sermon preached on account of 
his death, which happened in 1728, described him as "the 
first minister in the town ; the first in age, in gifts, in grace ; 
the first in all the provinces of New England for universal 
literature and extensive services." 

The statement in your essay that Jonathan Edwards wrote 
a vindication of the slave trade, is to the point. There is a 
tradition that he was a slave owner. He was born in 1703. 
Besides these distinguished and venerable men we may intro- 
duce the Rev. Dr. Stiles, who was President of Yale College. 
He was a settled minister in Newport, R. I., when the revo- 
lutionary war broke out. During his residence there, being 
in want of a servant, he sent a barrel of rum by a slave ship 
to the coast of Africa to be exchanged for a negro boy ; and 
one was actually procured and brought home to him. It is 
fair to state that his views afterwards underwent a change ; 
but he is introduced merely for the purpose of showing what 
the sentiments of New England, upon slavery, were at a given 
period of our history. These men, whose names have just 
been mentioned, were not only the most distinguished of their 
day, but they were all of them sons of distinguished clergy- 
men. They must all have been educated in the sentiments 
and feelings which prevailed among the clergy at that period. 

A whimsical bequest is noticed by Coilin, in his instructive 
and amusing history. Richard Dole, by his will, in 1698, 
gives to one of his children : 

" My great bible, fowling-piece, musket, and also my negro boy, 
Tom." — "In 1716, Rice Edwards, of Newbury, sells to Edward 
Greenleaf his whole personal estate, with all his goods and chattels, 
as also one negro man, one cow, three pigs, with timber, plank, and 
boards." 

But the inhabitants of New England did not expend all 
their energies in one direction. " They had both their do- 
4 



26 



mestic and their foreign slave trade, and dealt in Indians as 
well as negroes." Many of the slaves in Massachusetts 
were Indians imported from the South. Thus, in 1708, 
Thomas Steele sells to John Farnum, of Boston, for thirty- 
five pounds, an Indian boy, called Harry, imported from the 
province of South Carolina. In 1725, Theophilus Cotton, 
of Hampton, deeds to Jonathan Poore, of Newbury, " all my 
indian boy Sippai, aged about sixteen." And as early as 1646, 
December 29th, William Hilton, of Newbury, sells to George 
Carr, for one quarter of a vessel, "James, my indian, with all 
the interest I have in him, to be his servant forever." And 
earlier still. Governor Winthrop himself, after having given in 
his last will his " island, called the Governor's Garden," to 
his son Adam, proceeds, — "I give him also my Indians 
there and my boat and such household as is there." Possi- 
bly these were some of the Pequods which had been branded 
on the shoulder. 

It is a mistake to suppose that our forefathers, who came 
to establish a religious commonwealth on these inhospitable 
shores, were imbued with many of the notions that consti- 
tute so large a portion of the stock in trade of a modern 
philanthropist. They were not Teetotallers, nor Non-resist- 
ants, nor Abolitionists. A careful and diligent perusal of the 
Bible, which they cherished with so much solicitude as the 
only rule of faith and practice, had never revealed to their 
understandings, that they were required, at their peril, to 
subscribe to any of those dogmas. On the contrary, they 
were valiant soldiers, temperate drinkers, and humane mas- 
ters. Among them were found the Standishes, the Masons, 
and the Churches of colonial times. From the same stock 
sprung the Putnams, and the Starks, and the Prescotts, of the 
colonial wars and the revolution. Their sympathies extend- 
ed to the sufferer as well as to the felon. In their legislation 
they clearly defined the crime and the penalty ; and the 
moral suasion they made use of was very cogent, though 



27 

very brief. They gave the assurance, without the least 
mental reservation, that punishment would follow on the 
heels of wilful transgression. 

The Arbella, on her first voyage, when she came freighted 
with as precious a cargo as ever crossed the Atlantic, carried 
under her hatches forty-two tons of beer, and two hogsheads ^ 
of cider. This was not wafted across the great deep at so 
much trotible and expense to be poured into the dock. 

In 1637, the colony of Connecticut, in making provision 
for the forces under Captain Mason, in the Pequod war, 
ordered, "that there shall be one good hogshead of beer 
for the captain, and minister, and sick men ; and if there 
be only three or four gallons of strong water, two gallons 
of sack." 

These men enacted laws to restrain the drinking of 
healths, because the practice encouraged intemperance. Had 
tliey gone the whole figure, such legislation would have been 
superfluous. 

As early as 1634, brass farthings were banished by law 
from circulation, and musket bullets substituted as a portion 
of the currency. 

They were humane masters. They resolved in the most 
solemn manner, in their legislative capacity, that slaves 
should have all the Christian usages that the laws of God 
confer on persons in that condition. Whether slavery is 
allowable by the Bible is a question of hermeneutics. Ac- 
cording to their method of interpretation, it was allowable ; 
and having settled it thus, what more could they do ? This 
is conclusive as to their humanity, be their criticism what it 
may. There can be no pretence that they set up a false 
doctrine as a cloak for oppression ; the law of God estab- 
lished in Israel, to which they expressly refer, no where 
authorizes oppression. 

The law was made in good faith. They did not intend 
to mock the slave by false and hollow appearances. In the 
same code is this further provision : 



28 



" Every man whether Inhabitant or fforreiner, free or not free, 
shall have libertie to come into any publique Court, councel, or 
Towne meeting, and either by speech or w^riting to move any lawful, 
seasonable, or material question, or to present any necessary motion, 
complaint, petition, Bill, or information, whereof that meeting hath 
proper cognizance, so it be done in proper time, due order, and 
respective manner." And further, "If any servants shall flee from 
the Tiranny and crueltie of their masters to the howse of any freeman 
of the same Towne, they shall be then protected and susteyned until 
due order be taken for their relife." 

But the time at length arrived, when the ties that had so 
long connected the white and colored races in Massachusetts 
were to be severed. The process by which this was effected 
affords an interesting subject of contemplation ; and fortu- 
nately we have a full description of it from one who was 
every way qualified for the task. 

In 1795, Judge Tucker, of Virginia, addressed a letter to 
Dr. Belknap, then a minister in Boston, in which were pro- 
pounded sundry inquiries in relation to slavery as it had 
existed in Massachusetts. He requested, among other things, 
to be informed by what process slavery had been abolished, 
and when the event took place. By no possibility could his 
application have been made to an individual better able to 
impart the information. 

The correspondence is published in the fourth volume of 
Coll. Mass. Hist. Soc. 

In his reply, which is very full and explicit, the Doctor 
says that " Slavery hath been abolished here by public 
opinion, which began to be established about thirty years 
ago." In another place, he refers the commencement of this 
public opinion to " the beginning of our controversy with 
Great Britain." He goes on to state that 

" Not much was said in a public and formal manner, till we began 
to feel the weight of oppression from ' otTr mother country,' as Britain 
was then called. The inconsistency of pleading for our own rights 



29 



and liberties whilst we encouraged the subjugation, of others, was very 
apparent ; and from that time both slavery and the slave trade began 
to be discountenanced. The principal cause was public opinion, and 
the present generation, at an early stage of life, imbibed that opinion, 
which has grown with their growth, and strengthened with their 
strength." " At the beginning of our controversy with Great Britain, 
several persons, who before had entertained sentiments opposed to 
slavery of the blacks, did then take occasion publicly to remonstrate 
against the inconsistency of contending for our own liberty, and at the 
same time depriving other people of theirs." " The contro- 
versy began about the year 1766, and was renewed, at various times, 
till 1773, when it was warmly agitated, and became a subject of 
forensic disputation at the public commencement in Harvard Col- 
lege." 

In 1767, an attempt was made in the legislature to dis- 
courage the slave trade, but the measure, through a disagree- 
ment between the two houses, failed before it was sufficient- 
ly matured to be presented to the governor. This was the 
first step in the series, that was ostensibly made with a view 
to effect the object. Various moves, from time to time, 
were afterwards made on the board without success ; and. 
then the revolution intervened, and suspended for a long 
period all further operations. It may appear invidious to 
raise the inquiry even, whether the master spirits of the day 
were really in earnest to see their project succeed. It was a 
rousing subject for declamation, and one that offered a most 
inviting field for the display of their eloquence. It gave 
them an opportunity to show, that, in their aspirations after 
liberty, they were not exclusively selfish, but were willing to 
share the boon with the most helpless of their species. As 
the governor probably had instructions to resist all demands 
for popular rights, they were thus always prepared with a 
topic that would command the attention of their audience, 
and enlist the sympathies of the public. These remarks are 
made without a design to cast the least reproach on the 
memory of those illustrious patriots ; or to detract an iota 



30 



from their claims upon our gratitude, A purer, and at the 
same time, a more sagacious set of men, was probably never 
selected to wield the destinies of a people. But they are 
suggested by the circumstances to which the measure finally 
owed its consummation, and the great length of time that 
was suffered to elapse after all extraneous opposition to it was 
removed. 

The war of the revolution had been fought ; the revolt of 
the colonies had been successful ; the people of Massachu- 
setts had obtained complete mastery over their affairs, 
untrammeled by royal governors or mandamus councillors ; 
and still the slave trade was not suppressed. Had the 
people become indifferent to the crime, which formerly so 
much excited their indignation, or were their representatives 
chosen fresh, year by year, from every walk of life, alone 
blind to the signs of the times, and deaf to the importunities 
of their constituents? Such is not usually the course pursued 
by public servants towards those, whom, with profound hu- 
mility, no doubt, they delight to call their masters. 

To solve this inquiry, recourse must be again had to 
Dr. Belknap, who was an eye-witness of the proceedings he 
describes, and one of the principal promoters, if not the orig- 
inator of the scheme. He tells all how the statute for sup- 
pressing the slave trade was brought about ; and the relation 
will be given in his own words. He proceeds : 

" In the month of February 1788, just after the adoption of the 
present Federal Constitution by the Convention of Massachusetts, a 
most flagrant violation of the laws of society and humanity was perpe- 
trated in this town (Boston) by one Avery, a native of Connecticut. 
By the assistance of another infamous fellow, he decoyed three unsus- 
pecting black men on board a vessel, which he had chartered, and 
sent them down into the hold to work. Whilst they were there em- 
ployed, the vessel came to sail, and went to sea, having previously 

cleared out for Martinico The public indignation being 

greatly excited against the actors in this affair, and against others who 



31 

had been concerned in the traffic in slaves, it was thought proper to 
take advantage of the ferment and bring good out of evil. 

" Accordingly the Association of the Boston Clergy originated a 
petition to the legislature, praying for an act to prohibit the equipping 
and insuring vessels bound to Africa for slaves, and providing against 
carrying innocent blacks from home. The petition was circulated and 
sio-ned by a great number of our reputable citizens. The blacks were 
^irged to present a similar petition, which they did ; and fortiinatehj 
another of the same kind from the Society of Quakers, presented at 
a former session, was then lying on the table. All these were brought 
up together; and the effect was an Act passed March 26, 1788, 'to 
prevent the slave trade, and for granting relief to families of such un- 
happy persons as may be kidnapped or decoyed away from this Com- 
monwealth.' " 

It will be borne in mind, that this proceeding was two and 
twenty years after the struggle is said to have commenced ; 
some twelve years after the last vestige of British authority 
had vanished from the Old Bay State ; and eight years after 
the citizens of the same had been in the full fruition of all 
the blessings which flow from a government of the most 
popular cast, under the guarantee of a constitution, the funda- 
mental article of which was that " All men are born free and 
equal." 

And yet, what avast combination of machinery was brought 
into play, to destroy a practice, which the sovereign people, 
we are taught, had time out of mind regarded with unmiti- 
gated disgust and abhorrence. All the aid that could be drawn 
from the venerable and reverend Clergy of Boston, from the 
Negroes, the (Quakers, and a great number of reputable citi- 
zens, was concentrated to a focus on this memorable occasion. 
It is extremely questionable whether such an array has ever 
been presented, before or since, in our halls of legislation. 
Nor does it conclusively appear that all this would have been 
sufficient for their purpose, Avithout the help of an entirely 
unexpected, but most appropriate event that was enough to 
excite the indignation of a stoic. It is certain that the efforts 



32 



of the Q^uakers alone were unavailing. Dr. Belknap recounts 
the transaction with the air of a man who has accomplished 
a most difficult undertaking ; not simply by urging the intrin- 
sic merits of the measure upon those having the disposal of 
it, but by the exercise of consummate tact and address. Not 
a word escapes him expressive of impatience at the tardiness 
of the movement. He is rejoiced that the thing is done at 
last. 

We have thus been told how both slavery and the slave 
trade were banished from Massachusetts. Some have sup- 
posed that the abolition of sleavry was owing to the religious 
element which constitutes the essence of Puritanism. Dr. 
Belknap, who was an eye-witness of the whole proceeding, and, 
moreover, a clergyman, gives no such intimation. He ascribes 
it mainly, if not entirely, to political causes. In writing an ac- 
count of the movement to which his attention had been parti- 
cularly called, misrepresentation could only have been the result 
of deliberate fraud. Furthermore, if religious feeling was the 
moving cause, it would be evidence that piety existed in a 
more exalted state between 1766 and 1788 than at any former 
period. There is nothing to sustain such an opinion. During 
the intellectual struggle that preceded the appeal to arms, the 
pulpit, as a rule, responded to the voice of the people. The 
clergy, with but few exceptions, were whig. The value of 
their services was inestimable. But from what has been said 
of Dr. Edwards and Dr. Stiles, it is apparent that the conver- 
sion of a vast many of them to the side of abolition must have 
been by a process extremely expeditious. 

If the charge be true, that Mr. Jefferson has brought against 
some of the Northern delegates in the Continental Congress, 
which proclaimed the Declaration of Independence, that while 
discharging the functions pertaining to that patriotic undertak- 
ing they were even then engaged in the Guinea trade ; it will 
readily be conceded that a great portion of the labor which 
has been bestowed on this performance might have been 



33 



spared. The accusation, to be sure, is vague and indefinite. 
It is not fixed upon any individual, nor upon any colony. 
We only know that by the North is meant New England, 
inasmuch as the epithet is never applied to territories west of 
the Hudson. But the whole New England people in those 
days were animated by the same spirit ; and a rumor of this 
sort, if true, or even supported on probable testimony, must 
have been known to the whole community. By the choice 
of men, therefore, lying under such an imputation, the people 
declared most distinctly, that if not engaged in the slave 
trade themselves, they were not disposed to make a fuss 
about it. 

It is time calmly to inquire, whether, at this day, we clearly 
understand and correctly appreciate the sentiments of Seventy- 
Six on the subject of slavery ; and particularly the views of 
those who established the Constitution upon that clause which 
now exercises such an absorbing interest ; the clause providing 
for the surrender of fugitive slaves. Any thing illustrative of 
the opinions which those who framed that instrument enter- 
tained upon those points will be read with interest. There 
is one piece of documentary evidence existing among the 
statutes of Massachusetts, that, viewed in this light, is valu- 
able. 

The Constitution of the United States was ratified in Mas- 
sachusetts by the Convention assembled for that purpose, on 
the sixth day of February, 17SS. In less than two months 
after that joyful event, viz., on the twenty-sixth day of March 
following, the General Court passed the law whiqh has just 
been described for suppressing the slave trade ; and on the 
same day, be it remarked, they passed another Act for sup- 
pressing and punishing of Rogues, Vagabonds, and other idle 
and lewd persons, the sixth section of which reads as fol- 
lows : 

" Be it further enacted That no person being an African 

or Negro, other than a subject of the Emperor of Morocco or a citi- 
5 



34 



zen of some one of the United States, (to be evidenced by a certificate 
from the Secretary of the State of which he shall be a citizen,) shall 
tarry within this Commonwealth for a longer time than two months ; 
and upon complaint made to any Justice of the Peace within this Com- 
monwealth that any such person has been within the same more than 
two months, the said Justice shall order the said person to depart out 
of this Commonwealth ; and in case the said African or negro shall 
not depart as aforesaid, any Justice of the Peace within this Common- 
wealth, upon complaint and proof made, that such person has continued 
in this Commonwealth ten days after notice given him or her to depart 
as aforesaid, shall commit said person to any house of correction 
within the County, there to be kept at hard labor agreeably to the 
rules and orders of said house, until the Sessions of the Peace next 
to be holden within and for said County ; and the master of said house 
of correction is hereby required and directed to transmit an attested 
copy of the warrant of commitment to the said Court on the first day 
of the session ; and if upon trial at said Court it shall be made to 
appear that the said person has continued within the Commonwealth 
contrary to the tenor of this act, he or she shall be whipped not ex- 
ceeding ten stripes, and ordered to depart out of this Commonwealth 
within ten days ; and if he or she shall not so depart, the same pro- 
cess shall be had and the same punishment inflicted, and so ioties 
quotiesy 

The constitution had just been ratified, and the circum- 
stances attending it were fresh in the recollection of all men. 
The contest upon it had been arduous, and the vote, by 
which it was finally adopted, was a close one ; yet when the 
deed was done, no person dreamed of resisting it. There was 
to be no evasion. The legislature not only intended to stand 
by the articfle, and see it executed when circumstances should 
demand it, but they went further, and attempted to remove 
all inducements for a slave to come here, by making the place 
beforehand too hot for him. Massachusetts meant to act with 
perfect good faith, and, as far as in her lay, to avoid all col- 
lision. For although entirely free herself, she was bounded 
on two sides at least by slave States. It was long after be- 
fore slavery subsided in New York ; and it may be news to 



35 



some, that New Hampshire at that time held men in vassal- 
age. The often quoted letter of Dr. Belknap must serve us 
again. The doctor says : 

" Tlie present constitution of Massachusetts was established in 
1780. The first article of the declaration of rights, asserts that ' all 
men are born free and equal.' .... This was inserted, not merely 
as a moral or political truth, but with a particular view to establish 
the liberation of the negroes, and so it was understood by the people 

at large ; but some doubted whether it was sufficient The 

State of New Hampshire established their constitution in 1783, and 
in the first article of the declaration of rights, it is asserted that ' all 
men are born equally free and independent.' The construction there 
put on this clause is, that all who are born since the constitution, are 
free, but those who were in slavery before, are not liberated by it. 
By reason of this construction (which, by the way, I do not intend to 
vindicate,) the blacks in that State are in the late census distinguished 
into free and slaves, there being no Indians residing within those 
limits." 

So much for a contemporaneous exposition of apparently 
synonymous phrases. 

You, sir, are not without fears that St. Paul, were he to 
reappear, might meet with rough usage at the hands of some 
calling themselves Christians, for the part he felt himself con- 
strained by the Holy Ghost to take on this exciting subject ; 
and particularly for sending a runaway back to his master. 

Of what punishment would they be adjudged worthy, who 
were engaged in promoting the law, the sixth section of the act 
which has just been quoted, were they to come again in the 
flesh ? What man, who has the least desire to bask in the 
sunshine of popular favor, would dare to mount the stump in 
their behalf? And yet, it was passed by a senate, of which 
Samuel Adams was president, and approved by his Excel- 
lency, John Hancock : of all the world, just the two men, 
the extravagance of whose devotion to liberty had rendered 
them so preeminently obnoxious to the British authorities, 
tliat they alone were excepted from the amnesty which Gen. 



36 



Gage on certain conditions proffered to all besides. There 
are symptoms, which render it not improbable, that their 
offence might now, as then, be deemed " of too flagitious a 
nature to admit of any other consideration than that of con- 
dign punishment." It is also worthy of remark, that Han- 
cock, at this particular moment, owed his elevation to the 
chair principally to the impression, that in consequence of 
his inflexible attachment to the people, he would exercise 
greater lenity towards the infatuated insurgents, who, under 
Shays had been involved in an unsuccessful rebellion, than 
they could expect from his opponent, Governor Bowdoin, 
who was looked upon as the advocate of more stringent 
measures. It cannot be supposed, that so experienced a pilot 
as Hancock, with his eye on such a political horizon, would 
have tolerated the least encroachment upon what was re- 
garded as popular rights, or was known to exist in the popu- 
lar wish. 

In connection with the subject, it cannot be deemed im- 
pertinent to notice the proceedings of the Congregational 
Ministers of Massachusetts, as detailed in a Report presented 
May 30, 1849. At their meeting, in 1848, this venerable 
body, on motion of a most highly respectable member, ap- 
pointed a committee to prepare a report which should contain 
"A brief History of the Rise and Progress of Slavery in our 
Country." In accordance with this resolution, a committee 
of ten was raised, and the report was the fruit of their labors. 
Having a year before them to mature their plans, the report 
was prepared with great deliberation. It appears by the 
record, that the report itself was not presented to the meet- 
ing ; but an abstract, purporting to contain all its essential 
features was read and adopted with but one dissenting vote. 
The report has been printed and circulated as an expression 
of the views entertained by the convention ; and I have seen 
)io notice that it does not represent, in a satisfactory manner, 
the sentiments of the individual members. We are author- 



37 

ized, therefore, to look upon it as an official statement of the 
views which the Congregational Ministers of Massachusetts 
entertain of Slavery. 

On the fifty-seventh page of the document, is the follow- 
ing paragraph, which is quoted entire : 

" They are familiar facts^ that when Thomas Keyson (or Kezar) 
and James Smith imported a number of slaves into Massachusetts, in 
1645, the citizens of Boston denounced them, and all others engaged 
in the same traffic, as ' malefactors and murderers ; ' committed them 
to prison ; bore public testimony against ' the heinous crime of man- 
stealing ; ' and ordered the negroes to be restored, at the public 
charge, to their native country, — the General Court at the same 
time, by letter, expressing their indignation at their wrongs ; also, 
that in 1652, the General Court of Rhode Island passed a well-consid- 
ered law to this effect : ' That no black mankind, or white being, 
shall be forced by covenant, bond, or otherwise, to serve any man, or 
his assigns, longer than ten years ; ' and that the man that will not 
let them go free, or shall sell them away elsewhere, to the end that 
they may be enslaved to others a longer time, he or they shall forfeit 
to the Colony forty pounds.' And equally familiar is the melancholy 
fact, that these honorable movements of the Fathers of New England, 
two centuries ago, were thwarted and overruled by the covetousness 
and despotic authority of the mother country. Their wise enactments 
were set aside, and their consciences and rights subjected to the will 
of an unjust foreign government." 

Now what impression is this language naturally calculated 
to make ? What impression did the writer himself intend that 
it should make 7 Why, manifestly, that in 16'45, " the citizens 
of Boston " had their indignation aroused in consequence of 
the importation " of a number of slaves." This is the gist of 
it, so far as Smith and Keyser are concerned. But the pecu- 
liarities of the transaction, on account of which the people 
were exasperated, and which alone caused the determination 
to restore them to their native country, are wholly unnoticed. 
No allusion is made to the distinction created hy law hetvveen 
huying men and stealing men. For aught that appears in tlie 



38 



document, the whole excitement was raised by the attempt to 
bring negroes here in the condition of slaves ; and that it had 
no reference to the mode by which they had been obtained. 
Whether this is a fair and impartial exhibition of the entire 
proceeding, and worthy of the distinguished source whence 
it emanated, the history of the transaction already cited will 
enable the reader to decide. He will be struck by the 
thought, whether the account is marked by that appearance 
of candor which we always expect from the gown ? Is it 
truthful, or, from some cause or other, is it not altogether 
disingenuous ? 

And what are we to infer from the notice taken in the 
Report of the law of 1652, concerning "black mankind," in 
Rhode Island ? The most obvious meaning is, that the free- 
men of that colony were opposed to perpetual vassalage ; and 
that the law limiting its duration Avould have remained in 
force during the whole term of their colonial dependence, but 
for the " covetousness and despotic authority " of the metro- 
politan government. If this is not the import of the two last 
sentences in the quotation, it is difhciilt to elicit one. 

Providence was founded in 1636. Every body has heard 
of Roger Williams and his persecutions. He began his set- 
tlement, and set up a government by purchasing hi^ land of 
the natives without any charter from the crown. In 1644 
Williams went to England, and there prevailed on "both 
houses of parliament to grant unto him and his friends with 
him, a free and absolute charter of civil government for the 
parts of his abode." "Thus," says Bancroft, "were the 
places of refuge for ' soul liberty ' on the Narragansett Bay 
incorporated 'with full power and authority to rule them- 
selves.' " Things proceeded in this way until the Restoration. 
In 1663 Charles II. conferred a royal charter on Rhode Island 
Eind Providence Plantations. Bancroft, speaking of the char- 
ter of Connecticut, granted in 1662, says, " It conferred on 
the colonists unqualified power to govern themselves." And 



39 



in relation to the Rhode Island charter, just referred to, he 
says, it " was at length perfected, and, with new principles, 
embodied all that had been granted to Connecticut." Then, 
as if no longer able to contain himself, he breaks out into the 
following encomiastic strains : 

" This charter of government, constituthig, as it then seemed, a 
pure democracy, and establishing a political system which few beside 
the Rhode Islanders themselves believed to be practicable, is still in 
existence, and is the oldest constitutional charter, now valid, in the 
world. It has outlived the principles of Clarendon and the policy of 
Charles II. The probable population of Rhode Island, at the time of 
its reception, may have been twenty-five hundred. In one hundred 
and seventy years that number has increased forty fold ; and the gov- 
ernment, which was hardly thought to contain checks enough on the 
power of the people, to endure even among shepherds and farmers, 
protects a dense population, and the accumulations of a widely ex- 
tended commerce. Nowhere in the world have life, liberty, and prop- 
erty, been safer than in Rhode Island." 

This was chanted no longer ago than 1837. 

We have all heard how Newport was built up, and of the 
Commerce from which she derived her wealth. Who can 
doubt the truth of the rumors after reading the anecdote of 
Dr. Stiles, which is given on the authority of President Way- 
land. If they are true, the time was when it might have 
been said of Newport, as a distinguished tragedian in one of 
his rhapsodies is reported to have said to an audience in Liv- 
erpool, " Every brick in your houses is cemented by the 
blood of slaves." 

Except the encroachment of Andros from 1686 to 1689, 
Rhode Island never had any thing in the shape of a royal 
governor from beginning to end. 

It must be apparent, that the Report is the production of 
one whose ideas were in great confusion, and consequently 
that he is sometimes obscure. Not to cavil about verbal inac- 
curacies, what will be thought of a clergyman who desig- 



40 

nates what he terms the "Mother Country " as a "Foreign 
Government." If Great Britain was foreign in respect to the 
Colonies, the Colonies must have stood in the same relation 
to her. But on the authority of Webster's Dictionary, 
" We call every country foreign, which is not within the 
jurisdiction of our own government." The Colonies 
were within and under the jurisdiction of Great Britain 
till the revolution. • Their emancipation from British supre- 
macy was the revolution. 

The foregoing extract affords a fair specimen of the logical 
acumen and historical accuracy which pervades the Report. 
The writer was evidently letting off steam. 

In conclusion, it is not improper to say a word about the 
(Quakers. A foggy sort of notion is beginning to prevail, 
that from their origin, at any rate, from their settlement in 
this country, under William Penn, they have, as a denomina- 
tion, been opposed to slavery. This position, if true, would 
only prove, that among many wild and visionary theories, 
which distinguish them as a sect, they adopted that of aboli- 
tion. But the notion is not true. Opposition to slavery 
sprung up among them at a comparatively recent date. Wil- 
liam Penn lived and died a slave owner. There is a letter 
on record from T. Matlack to William Findley, which gives 
an account of the rise and progress of this idea among them. 
Mr. Matlack, who, when he wrote, was an aged Friend, 
says: 

" The practice of slave keeping in Pennsylvania and New Jersey 
commenced with the first settlement of the Province, and certainly 

was countenanced by William Penn Penn left a family 

of slaves behind him Slave keeping of course became 

general among Friends." 

The earliest instance of emancipation among them known 
to Mr. Matlack, took place in 1742. It was not till eight or 
ten years after, that the yearly meeting began to lean in favor 
of the "oppressed African." 



41 



In regard to the improvement of the negroes, Penn at- 
tempted to legislate, not for the abolition of slavery, but for 
the sanctity of marriage among the slaves, and for their per- 
sonal safety. 

There is no more reason to suppose that George Fox was 
an abolitionist, than that Governor Winthrop was. They 
were brought up in the same notions respecting villanage, 
and so doubtless was John Locke. What those views were 
will pretty distinctly appear from the following extract from 
Grahame : 

" Negro slavery lingered long in the settlements of the Puritans in 
New England, and of the Quakers in New Jersey and Pennsylvania ; 
altliough in none of these States did the climate, or the soil or its ap- 
propriate culture, suggest the same temptations to this inhumanity, 
which presented themselves in the southern quarters of America. Las 
Casas, so distinguished for the warmth of his philanthropy, first sug- 
gested its introduction into Mexico and Peru ; George Fox, the most 
intrepid and enthusiastic of reformers, demanded no more of his fol- 
lowers than a mitigation of its rigors in Barbadoes ; and the illustrious 
philosopher, John Locke, renowned also as the champion of rehgious 
and political freedom, introduced an express sanction of it into the 
Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina." 

The clause which Locke introduced into the Fundamental 
Constitutions of Carolina, is this : 

" Every freeman shall have absolute power and authority over his 
negro slave, of what opinion or religion soever." 

These sentiments of Locke did not lower him in the eyes 
of our ancestors. As evidence of the estimation in which 
his writings were held by the most zealous and enlightened 
advocates for liberty at the time when the flame was brightest 
the opinion of no one could be introduced which is entitled 
to greater weight than that of Josiah Quincy, Jr. In the 
last will of that pure and spotless patriot, who fell a martyr 
to the cause no less than Warren, the following clause oc- 
curs : 

6 



42 



" I give to my son, when he shall arrive at the age of fifteen years, 
Algernon Sidney's Works, John Locke's Works, Lord Bacon's Works, 
Gordon's Tacitus, and Gate's Letters. May the Spirit of Liberty rest 
upon him ! " 

In the foregoing pages, an attempt has been made to show 
how far the establishment of slavery in Massachusetts was 
owing to the direct interference of the British government. 
One extract more from the oft quoted letter of Dr. Belknap 
will explain how far it was due to the proceedings of foreign 
or European merchants. Judge Tucker, in his searching 
examination, puts the following inquuy : " Whether it (the 
slave trade) was carried on by European or American adven- 
tiurers ? " Dr. Belknap, in his reply, says : 

" I do not find that European adventurers had any other concern 

here than to procure cargoes of our rum to assist them in carrying on 

their business." 

AMICUS. 



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